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Creative people live behind every door – most of them just don’t know it yet. Jochen Gerz
78 people hit the road from places such as Munich, Berlin, Moscow and Tokyo. They have been invited to live rent-free for one year in the Cultural Capital of Europe RUHR.2010. They move into empty apartments on three very ordinary streets in Dortmund, Duisburg and Mülheim an der Ruhr. They have come to change themselves. And together with their neighbours, to change the streets onto which they have moved. As the saying goes: when you change yourself, you change the world… The participants also want to write a book together. Who else will join in? How many of the new residents will continue to live on their streets after the year has passed?
Jochen Gerz calls 2-3 Streets an exhibition. The streets, residents, passers-by, visitors and everyday life on the streets become art. The main focus is not just writing, nor is it intended to develop artists’ districts or events. Rather, 2-3 Streets is really about a process affecting society as a whole; both readers and non-readers become authors, consumers become producers.
One year of 2-3 Streets: Did the streets become more open and spacious? – The districts, the courtyards, the gardens and also the apartments became the venue for creative ideas. Old and new residents launched and implemented initiatives, they opened their doors, played host to familiar and unfamiliar faces: neighbours, passers-by and visitors to the exhibition. 887 people joined in writing the book, and told of life on the three streets in 3.000 pages. They wrote about life as it is today.
The exhibition has now finished, however more than half of the 78 participants in 2-3 Streets will not be returning to their home towns in 2011. They remain on their new streets in order to continue to change life in the neighbourhood with their neighbours.
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